Rep. Steve King Won’t Concede That Birth Control Prevents Pregnancies

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said Friday that he doesn’t believe birth control pills prevent pregnancies — and suggested that they’re a form of abortion.

“The objection that the Catholic Church and I have to the morning after pill,” King told MSNBC’s Martin Bashir, “is because it ends the life of an unborn baby.”

Here’s the exchange that followed:

BASHIR: As you know, sir, the contraceptive pill doesn’t abort a pregnancy. It prevents a pregnancy from happening. That’s not what I’m talking about…

KING: Well, I really don’t concede that. And that’s not either the Catholic Church’s position.

King joined other Republicans in saying he was not satisfied by the White House’s tweak to its contraception rule Friday morning, which allows religious non-profits to opt out of the requirement and pass the cost of the birth control to the insurance company.

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Sahil Kapur is TPM's senior congressional reporter and Supreme Court correspondent. His articles have been published in the Huffington Post, The Guardian and The New Republic. Email him at sahil@talkingpointsmemo.com and follow him on Twitter at @sahilkapur.